158 THROUGH CANADA 



The value of placer gold in 1909 amounted to 

 £gSAOO, a falling off from the previous year. The 

 decrease was attributed to unfavourable weather, 

 which affects the gold harvest as well as the wheat. 

 The mining of placer gold is controlled by the 

 supply of water, depending at one time on the snow- 

 fall of the previous winter, at another on the rainfall 

 of the spring. There is another factor, however ; the 

 more easily available deposits have been largely 

 worked out, and others requiring larger capital and 

 plant must be exploited. Again, fresh plant has to 

 be reconstructed to meet new requirements, and 

 an idle period intervenes. The bursting of a dam, 

 which causes flooding and suspends work, defers the 

 expected returns for periods more or less prolonged. 



As might be expected, the vicissitudes of this 

 kind of mining have to be coped with, and 

 speculation has uncertain results. At times the 

 excitement over a " find " is by no means justified by 

 experience, at others hopes are realized beyond the 

 dream of avarice. 



The total amount of silver produced in British 

 Columbia in 1909 was 2,532,742 ozs., valued at 

 ;^247,854. The four divisions of the Slocan district 

 produced about 50 per cent, of the total. The Fort 

 Steele mining division contributed 23 per cent. 

 Most of the silver is found associated with lead, the 

 rest in copper-silver ores. 



The lead comes chiefly from the Fort Steele 



